Progress made with Constituency Development Fund Bill
The Constituency Development Fund Bill was tabled in parliament seven years ago but has not been enacted yet.
KENYA KAMBOWE
RUNDU
The chairperson of the National Council, Lukas Muha, says progress has been made on the Constituency Development Fund Bill, which was tabled in parliament about seven years ago but has not been enacted yet.
Muha was responding to a Namibian Sun enquiry on the progress of the bill, which has collected dust for the past seven years despite its importance as far as development is concerned.
The bill, which is an initiative of the National Council and was tabled on 18 February 2014, aims to fast-track development activities at constituency level and address the issue of some constituencies being marginalised in terms of project funding.
The bill was prompted by criticism that regional constituency offices were not spearheading development, and that challenges such as water and electricity provision were left in the hands of central government.
Amendments
Muha says there have been fruitful engagements between the stakeholders involved, including urban and rural Development minister Erastus Uutoni.
He said amendments to the bill were necessary.
“The bill will become reality,” Muha said.
“We are receiving a very positive response from the National Assembly, more particularly the minister. He is showing keen interest in the bill so it can be enacted.
“There were issues that were considered but could not be considered by the cabinet committee on treasury so as a result the bill is still with the ministry.
“The ministry … found the amendments enough for the bill to proceed back to the cabinet committee on treasury but then on our side we picked up a few hiccups there.
“We have gone through the bill and for two months the bill was with the National Council. This week we will send the amended version to the ministry for them to see how it can advance to the next level,” Muha explained.
[email protected]
RUNDU
The chairperson of the National Council, Lukas Muha, says progress has been made on the Constituency Development Fund Bill, which was tabled in parliament about seven years ago but has not been enacted yet.
Muha was responding to a Namibian Sun enquiry on the progress of the bill, which has collected dust for the past seven years despite its importance as far as development is concerned.
The bill, which is an initiative of the National Council and was tabled on 18 February 2014, aims to fast-track development activities at constituency level and address the issue of some constituencies being marginalised in terms of project funding.
The bill was prompted by criticism that regional constituency offices were not spearheading development, and that challenges such as water and electricity provision were left in the hands of central government.
Amendments
Muha says there have been fruitful engagements between the stakeholders involved, including urban and rural Development minister Erastus Uutoni.
He said amendments to the bill were necessary.
“The bill will become reality,” Muha said.
“We are receiving a very positive response from the National Assembly, more particularly the minister. He is showing keen interest in the bill so it can be enacted.
“There were issues that were considered but could not be considered by the cabinet committee on treasury so as a result the bill is still with the ministry.
“The ministry … found the amendments enough for the bill to proceed back to the cabinet committee on treasury but then on our side we picked up a few hiccups there.
“We have gone through the bill and for two months the bill was with the National Council. This week we will send the amended version to the ministry for them to see how it can advance to the next level,” Muha explained.
[email protected]
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